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min answer › date of answer

2019-05-15

answer › answering member constituency

Carshalton and Wallington

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To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House
of Commons Commission, how frequently the Commission receives reports from the Speaker’s
Advisory Committee on Works of Art.

<p>The Speaker’s Advisory Committee on Works of Art produces an annual report which
is published and considered by the House’s Finance Committee. The Commission does
not receive routine updates. The last annual report was published on the Committee’s
website in October 2018. This year’s annual report is due to be considered by the
Advisory Committee in September and will be published later in the year.</p>

To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House
of Commons Commission, what steps are planned to be taken to improve the digital accessibility
of the House of Commons through the Restoration and Renewal programme.

<p>Plans to improve the digital accessibility of Parliament as part of the Restoration
and Renewal programme have not yet been agreed, as this work is still at an early
stage. However, recognising the importance of this matter, the shadow Sponsor Board
has agreed a strategic approach, which commits the programme to deliver a building
which supports Parliament’s core function as a working legislature using high-quality
design and technology, as well as encouraging wider participation in the work of Parliament,
including through improved digital access. This strategic approach has also been endorsed
by the Commissions of both Houses.</p>

To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House
of Commons Commission, what recent estimate the Commission has made of the amount
of food waste produced by the kitchens on the parliamentary estate.

<p>Management information from Parliament’s waste contractor demonstrates that between
April 2018 to April 2019, Parliament generated 235,595 kgs of food waste. This represents
a 12% reduction from 2017/18 when 266,749 kgs of food waste was generated. Food waste
from prepared dishes in Commons catering outlets is approximately 3% against sales,
well below the national industry average (5%).</p>

To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House
of Commons Commission, what steps the Commission is taking to reduce the amount of
food waste produced by the kitchens on the parliamentary estate.

<p>The House of Commons has implemented a variety of initiatives to reduce the amount
of food waste. The only food which is disposed of consists of products that are not
safe to be consumed, following guidance from, for example, the Catering Services’
Food Safety Policy and in relation to use-by dates.</p><p>Measures taken to monitor
and reduce food waste from our catering venues includes:</p><ul><li>Menu plans and
cycles are used which enables orders to be planned in advance;</li></ul><ul><li>Most
dishes are made fresh in-house, which allows for improvisation if products need to
be used up, and enables short life products to be used in smoothies, soups and salads;</li></ul><ul><li>Stock
is regularly counted, and order volumes consider the level of stock-in-hand;</li></ul><ul><li>Dates
are checked regularly on ambient food products and any short life products are issued
to the kitchens for immediate use;</li></ul><ul><li>Many of the high-volume protein
items are ordered by unit (rather than weight) which makes portion control more accurate
and reduces the likelihood of over ordering;</li></ul><ul><li>Venue orders are checked
by a purchasing team for accuracy, to ensure that orders and volumes are correct and
in-line with historic figures;</li></ul><ul><li>The kitchens make salad items in-house,
meaning venues can cook-off and utilise any surplus protein products effectively;</li></ul><ul><li>Stock
is always rotated using ‘first-in, first-out’ principles;</li></ul><ul><li>Various
smart storage methods and materials are used to help prevent premature spoilage;</li></ul><ul><li>Some
products are frozen if not used on the day;</li></ul><ul><li>Products which show high
levels of wastage are changed (for example, some high frequency/low volume lines are
now frozen which enables portion control);</li></ul><ul><li>Any hot food which is
re-usable is transferred immediately to where it can be sold (or blast chilled within
food safety requirements and used the following day).<br></li></ul><p><br>The Sustainable
Restaurant Association has rated the House of Commons as a good practice organisation
in respect of food waste.</p>

<p>Members’ staff are regularly consulted on service issues by House authorities.
These consultations include regular meetings between House staff and MPs’ staff representative
bodies, and invitations to focus groups to feed into service design. A sample of Members’
staff have also recently been surveyed on how effective the services provided by the
House are for them. There is also an annual meeting between House staff and MPs’ staff
bodies (specifically Members and Peers Staff Association and Unite) at which service
issues can be raised.</p><p>More recently, the House of Commons Commission has discussed
the Gemma White review, and it welcomed the broad thrust of the recommendations made,
which included better HR services for Members’ staff and how the sense of isolation
that they feel can be addressed. They have asked the House Administration to carry
out further work to examine the practical steps that can be taken in response to it.</p><p>Terms
and conditions of service for Members’ staff fall within the remit of the Independent
Parliamentary Standards Authority.</p>

To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House
of Commons Commission, what proportion of organisations that hold contracts with the
Commission pay the National Living Wage.

<p>The House of Commons is accredited by Citizens UK as a London Living Wage Employer.
The terms of its accreditation licence require that contractors and sub-contractors
with dedicated staff who are based on parliamentary premises are paying those staff
at least the London Living Wage.</p><p>Contractors and sub-contractors which provide
services in relation to our contracts, while not having a presence on parliamentary
premises, are required to pay dedicated staff at least the London Living Wage, or
the UK Living Wage if based outside London.</p><p>We can confirm that to our knowledge,
all dedicated staff are being paid either the London Living Wage or the UK Living
Wage.</p>

To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House
of Commons Commission, how many complaints have been made against Members since the
introduction of the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme.

<p>Proactive quarterly publication of statistics, related to the Independent Grievance
and Complaints Scheme, are published on Parliament’s website. Where there are fewer
than 10 cases, the exact number is not published in order to maintain the confidentiality
of the parties involved. More detailed breakdown of statistics, as recommended in
the Alison Stanley six-month review, are currently being collated. This includes complaints
made by user groups, e.g. against MPs, House staff, MPs’ staff. This information will
be reviewed and published with the next quarterly statistics in mid-October, whilst
ensuring that the confidentiality of those concerned is maintained.</p>

To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House
of Commons Commission, how many complaints against Members have been resolved since
the introduction of the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme.

<p>Proactive quarterly publication of statistics related to the independent grievance
and complaints scheme, are published on Parliament’s website. Where there are fewer
than 10 cases, the exact number is not published in order to maintain the confidentiality
of the parties involved. More detailed breakdown of statistics, as recommended in
the Alison Stanley six-month review, are currently being collated and will include
the number of complaints that have been resolved. This information will be reviewed
and published with the next quarterly statistics in mid-October, whilst ensuring that
the confidentiality of those concerned is maintained.</p>

To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House
of Commons Commission, what sanctions have been imposed on hon. Members since the
introduction of the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme.

<p>The issue of sanctions is the responsibility of the Parliamentary Commissioner
for Standards and/or the Committee on Standards, not the Commission. I note that the
Committee on Standards is currently holding an inquiry on the issue of sanctions and
intends to put to the House a package of proposed reforms to the sanctions regime
for approval during autumn 2019.</p>